I first fell in love with Grüner Veltliner from Austria 12 or 13 years ago: It was a brisk spring evening and a sommelier friend of mine insisted that I try a glass he’d just gotten in from Austria’s Wachau region. It was not just a delicious wine—so much lime and mineral and something almost lentil-like at the edges, which I really hadn’t been expecting—but it fit the weather perfectly, somehow seeming to translate the season (crisp still, but with the promise of something warmer in store) into liquid form.
I first fell in love with Grüner Veltliner from Sonoma last night: It was a brisk spring evening and I decided to pop open a bottle of Belden Barns 2016 from Sonoma Mountain, my white Wine of the Week. It was not just a delicious wine—such an unexpectedly rich nose, with nectarine, apricot, and almonds edged with a sense of brininess, and flavors of preserved lemon, yellow apple, and mineral and floral notes pulsing through it all—but also a deeply confident one. I was sold immediately.
Because Belden Barns has done something remarkable here: They’ve taken a point of inspiration—in this case the smaragd, or ripest, style of Grüner from the Wachau—and interpreted it in a thoroughly personal way. This is no simple reproduction of the original, but a wholly sui generis wine in its own right, an estate-grown white that’s aged for 17 months in stainless steel and neutral French oak, and made in a run of 225 cases. Spring is, in poetry at least, the time for burgeoning love. Seems like I fell pretty hard last night, and the season is only a couple of weeks old.
My red Wine of the Week—well, sort of red—is one that I fell in love with when I was still in high school. My father had brought home a bottle of Dow’s 10 Year Old Tawny Port that a friend had given him, and we tasted it together. My mind was immediately blown: How could this kind of sweetness coexist so seamlessly alongside that suggestion of savoriness? Over the years, and many bottles later, it’s a wine that still continues to surprise me.
And this is the time of year that I like to remind myself of why it’s become such a benchmark for me. The tawny style in general—it means that the Port has been aged in wood with just enough exposure to oxygen that the color turns, well, tawny, and the flavors transmogrify from overtly fruity and sweet to something built just as much on a scaffolding of dry fruit, nuts, caramel, and spices—is a favorite of mine, and the Dow’s 10 Year is one of my go-to bottlings. (Incidentally, I tend to prefer 20-year-old Tawny Port over the 10, 30, and 40-year-old bottlings in general, but this Dow’s 10 Year has always had a way of winning me over.)
This one shows particularly transporting aromatics of sandalwood and incense anchored by tobacco, caramel, and sultanas. Those notes follow through to the palate and are joined by dried apricots, charred vanilla pod, flamed orange peel, the vaguest suggestion of toasted fennel seed, and a joyous fig Newton-like finish that lingers and lingers.
Port may be most commonly associated with wintertime, with sipping by a fireplace and snacking on Stilton (if we’re getting traditional), but I love it throughout the year. And the Dow’s, with a slight chill on it—I pulled the bottle from my cellar, which is always 55 degrees Fahrenheit, poured a glass, and let it sit for five minutes—was both rich and refreshing in equal measure. That’s because it’s not a cloyingly sweet bottle—the best of them never are. It is, rather, a Port of balance, elegance, energy, and length. And because it’s a tawny, it’ll last me through the rest of the spring. Actually, let me rephrase that: It could last through the rest of the spring; once it’s open, tawny has some time left before you have to worry about it fading. But it likely won’t last that long: Wine this good tends to get consumed in my house with alacrity. As it should be.
Belden Barns Grüner Veltliner 2016 Sonoma Mountain
What a rich, lush nose, yet still wildly fresh, with stone fruit in abundance—nectarine, apricot—as well as mashed almonds, a slightly honeyed note, and a hint of brininess at the edges: So fascinating and mouthwatering. On the palate, this is irresistible, with a saline edge to flavors of preserved lemon, a hint of herb, stones, yellow apples, and mineral to spare, and a subtly honeyed and floral finish. I’m still thinking about this wine nearly 24 hours after I first tasted it. SRP: $28
Dow’s 10 Year Old Tawny Port
Transporting aromatics of sandalwood and incense are anchored by tobacco and humidor, caramel, and a hint of sultanas. These turn to a palate of impeccable balance, the sultanas and melted white licorice joined by toasted fennel seed notes that are unexpected and wonderfully complicating. Charred vanilla pod, dried apricot, and a subtle twist of flamed orange peel are perfectly integrated, and the finish shows a lingering note of Fig Newtons that are neither too sweet nor too dry. SRP: $36
